The X-Children: Where Are You Now?
The X-Children: Where Are You Now? is a 2015 D.I.T. book, the first installment of a two-part sequel spinoff, and the tenth book in The Super Babies series and a sequel to The Super Babies: Book V: The Final Chapter occurring ten years later. It is the twentieth installment of the D.I.T. Literary Universe and the eighth book in Part Three: The Growing Universe. The book is joined by a host of new characters, including Red X and Jonathan, but mostly uses characters already appearing in the previous ones, but looking different because they are older. The NoHeads have risen from the ashes of defeat and remain in secret for a time. They are soon opposed by Master Intelligence, reprising his name for being age-appropriate, and the S.M.S.B. In the midst of this search, new heroes rise to help the S.M.S.B. in their mission to destroy the New Order. The first part ends as Red X departs the MBH for the summer. Where Are You Now? was released in February 2015. Subsequently, Thomas confirmed that the book would be split in two, to do justice to its concept. He looked up designs of real teenagers to do layout, but none of them resemble their image search. Force Baby was given new hair, and Sebiscuits Cardarphen was given Force Baby’s hair instead. The second part of the installment, The X-Children: The Return of the Verasect, was released on May 29, 2015, and would have been followed by a cancelled threequel, The X-Children: Master of the Blade, respectively. Production of both books occurred concurrently, and treated as if it were one book. The idea to split the books had been around since late 2014, but only really came into serious consideration after Thomas remembered his ambition to make it a sequel trilogy. Thomas also noted this was a sit-down book. He has also noted that some of the events of this book had an effect on the way The X-Adults: Endgame: The Latest Threat was to be made in 2018. Summary The S.M.S.B. is back, but now they’re all a lot older. In this era of peace, Baby Intelligence, now going by Master Intelligence, continues to train the group. Among them is a new member named Red X, whose powers could be more than meets the eye. And at Bast Castle, a past enemy is planning to return from the dead and seek revenge. And if the NoHeads return to power, chaos will follow. Synopsis Murder of Jonathan During the summer of 2031, Lindsay Kellerman has a dream of a teenage orphan by the name of Jonathan who creeps into a castle and listens to Hell Burnbottom plotting against Lindsay with Whammo Fireball and the Lunch Money Bandit, planning to gather their “old comrades” to kill Master Intelligence and avenge Lindsay. The boy is spotted by Nagatha, a vivid snake, who informs Burnbottom of another presence in the house, and the boy is caught by the people in the room and killed seconds later. Lindsay wakes up sweating at the MBH. Telekinibabe immediately stands over her, asking her if she is all right. Lindsay tells him she had a nightmare, and asks him why he is there. Tyler says he “just came to check on her.” After changing into her supersuit, Lindsay follows him out. As they walk the halls, Lindsay points out that the halls are empty and asks if Master Intelligence is awake. Telekinibabe says Lindsay is the one who is tardy, before proving this when they arrive. Master Intelligence is standing at the front. Baby Strength, Sebiscuits, and Force Baby are also there. Master Intelligence directly says that Lindsay is late, giving Telekinibabe and Lindsay proof of the halls’ state, and both take their seats. When Lindsay asks why there is an extra desk, Master Intelligence turns and cryptically says, “That desk is for Cynthia.” Discovery of Red X Later that day, a flying van lands in the docking bay. From it steps Cynthia, the newest member of the S.M.S.B. She had passed the tests earlier, and was the first female member besides Lindsay and the deceased Paige. Lindsay and Telekinibabe are both waiting for her. She steps out and looks around nervously. It was clear to her that a long, hard life is ahead, beyond what she has ever known. Just then, Lindsay calls to her and introduces herself. Cynthia tells Lindsay her name just as Telekinibabe comes up behind and Lindsay tells her his name. With that, they head inside the MBH. Cynthia is amazed as she walks through each hall. As they round the bend, Lindsay tells Cynthia she must be quite powerful, regarding her late start. Before Cynthia can reply, Lindsay pinpoints Master Intelligence’s office. When Cynthia heads inside, Master Intelligence rises from his desk and greets her. He reminds her who he is and tells her he’s excited to have her as a new S.M.S.B. member. He explains that she will be taught a full range of subjects, including history, science, dueling, math, art, writing, and learning to use her powers. He also tells her that in the last mentioned class, they also studied telekinesis, which any Super could use. He then shows Cynthia to her room. When they arrive, Master Intelligence reveals that he is making her a new set of clothes before telekinetically bringing the suitcase onto the shelf next to the bed. Cynthia was awed by this. Intelligence tells her she can also adopt a new name, and recommends “Red X” upon seeing her shirt. Cynthia agrees and her alias is sealed. Master Intelligence tells her she should unpack, as it will take another hour for supper to finish. He tells her she can “make herself at home” until then. He then leaves her to undress in private. Training Upon her arrival at the MBH, Red X felt as if she did not fit in, placed amongst students who had been training for years and capable of feats such as levitating suitcases and deflecting electric attacks. She also has to deal with obstacles such as bullying and arriving late to training periods. Despite this, Red X soon makes a couple of close friends, Master Intelligence and Lindsay, and achieves good marks in most of her courses, save acrobatics and telekinesis. She also develops a crush on fellow trainee Telekinibabe. A few months after she joined, Sebiscuits announces a sword tournament, in which everything will be safe (regarding Operation: Purge). Red X joins the tournament, but continues to struggle greatly with telekinesis. Shortly afterwards, everyone does a test on their individual superpowers — Force Baby for Force powers, Red X for flying, Lindsay for appiration, and the like. Standing at the front of the desk, Master Intelligence declares they have passed the test before beginning telekinesis. He instructs them to move a nearby pile of books from the floor to the table. He gestures to the pile and calls Lindsay up. He calls Lindsay up first, who extends her hand and levitates the books to the table in a flawless order. Red X is next. Taking a breath and extending her hand, she focuses on the pile. Nothing happens. When she makes a second attempt, the book on the top begins to wobble. It spins once, then falls off the table. Master Intelligence frowns as he checked his clipboard and orders Telekinibabe up. The Fencing Tournament Later, he gathers everyone in the audience chamber. Master Intelligence speaks formally, as the head of the group. He tells them that he has been attacked by Whammo Fireball and the Lunch Money Bandit, who were thought to be imprisoned. He explains that he awoke to hear them outside, and went to fight them. Cygnus had attacked him but Whammo let them open and they Disapparated. Some of the tryouts for the tournament involve deflecting bullets, cutting bread, and spinning. Finally, the qualifiers are chosen! Force Baby doesn’t qualify, but the rest of the S.M.S.B. does, though Red X narrowly makes it. Six police are chosen as well, as are six ordinary Muggles. Because Lindsay and Red X wanted to keep training after the intro, they borrowed a training robot from Master Intelligence to help. During one such training session, Red X deflects the bullets, standing alongside Lindsay. Lindsay then teaches her a new tactic — if she timed her block perfectly, she could use her sword to shield herself from bullets and quickly counterattack. As she spoke, she did the same against a volley of blasts. Red X tried this, and it worked.  Later, during another training session, Master Intelligence tells them they will create and paint glass plates. When this is done, they will eat a “delicious surprise supper” on them. After the training session ends, everyone begins work on the plates. Master Intelligence has a special machine for the job. Lindsay Kellerman’s Warning Afterwards, Lindsay and Red X continue training. In one such session, both of them deflect bullets left and right. Finally, the remote ceases fire and Lindsay teaches Red X another move. Red X smiles approvingly. Lindsay tells Red X she was doing well, before telling her she needs to go. She then departs to Master Intelligence’s office. She knocks on the open door, then steps inside to find Master Intelligence on a bench, deep in thought. Remaining standing, she says she needs to talk to him about her visions. She explains that it happened in August, and that in it, she was with Jonathan in Bast Castle. Hell Burnbottom’s ghost was there, as well as the Lunch Money Bandit and Whammo Fireball. Hell Burnbottom had a job for them, and they were planning to force Lindsay to participate. Upon explaining this, Lindsay asks Master Intelligence what to do about her dreams. Intelligence tells her it is unwise to obsess over them, but he does promise to “keep an eye on things.” Lindsay leaves, finding this an entirely unsatisfactory answer. Later that night, the Lunch Money Bandit sneaks inside the chamber that holds the finished plates. Then he silently shuts the door and gets to work. Return of the warlord Finally, the plates are successfully complete. Master Intelligence tells Telekinibabe to fetch Lindsay from her room. Telekinibabe nods and heads down there to find Lindsay reading. He tells her that the plates and surprise supper have been completed. For the second time in the book, Lindsay follows him to Master Intelligence. As Master Intelligence announces that their plates “turned out great,” Lindsay stands next to Red X. With that, Master Intelligence disappears behind a door. He returns carrying a pot, a kettle, and a plate of steaks. Having already fetched their cups, the other members head to the long table. Master Intelligence lays down a steak on everyone’s plate, then calls everyone over to get macaroni and cheese and peas from the pot and kettle, for which everyone is more than happy to oblige. When all the plates are assembled, everyone begins to eat. For Sebiscuits, the food has been mashed so he can suck it past his vocabulator.  Lindsay looks over, then down at her steak, which is covered in blood. As she mentions this, she puts her hand on the plate in a gesture. The plate was a transport and she is magically transported into the graveyard of her tormenting nightmares. Whammo Fireball appears from a crypt, carrying a weakened Burnbottom. He conjures up a metal board and uses its restraints to hold Lindsay down, then starts making a potion to restore Burnbottom’s body. The potion succeeds and Burnbottom rises out of the cauldron, powerful once more.  The Lunch Money Bandit is summoned and Lindsay escapes her bonds. She then proceeds to duel Hell Burnbottom. Their swords clash, Burnbottom soon getting the better of the duel. Burnbottom uses his powers to enhance his speed and assail Lindsay; the latter struggling to keep up with his vicious sword technique. Whammo and the Lunch Money Bandit begin to circle them, shouting for instructions. Still locked in combat with Lindsay, Burnbottom tells them to stay back. Finally, Lindsay’s slight decrease in speed allows Burnbottom to kick her to the floor. And then, the ghost of Rotta Hecks, Master Intelligence’s deceased mother, emerges from between the duelists; both are amazed. Rotta encourages Lindsay not to let herself be overpowered by Burnbottom, before telling her to recover the now-fixed plate transport. Lindsay summons the plate with telekinesis. She disappears, the echoes fade, and Burnbottom gives a roar of fury. His plan has gone wrong, and Lindsay has escaped. Lindsay immediately tells Master Intelligence what had happened, who does a security check on the MBH and keeps a close lookout. Red X’s Departure The Swordfighting Tournament takes place two days later. There, Master Intelligence defeats Sebiscuits, Dexter defeats Emma, Red X defeats Baby Strength, and Lindsay defeats Telekinibabe. Red X’s final days were tamer, and she is able to lift a book with her powers, but still not the whole pile, indicating her powers are getting stronger. She achieves strong marks in her other classes as well, including P.E., and is voted the most resilient member in the news. Later, she returns home to her parents for the summer. First Post-Script In the Post-Script, Master Intelligence makes his way through the MBH while discussing the fact that Tori Newell has reportedly discharged from Canyon Secure Center, only to run away again, presumably with Stanley. Outside, Tori and Stanley are actually very close to the mansion, with Tori debating if she should let Master Intelligence know where she is, before cryptically and indirectly deciding not to for the glory of the Order of the Mystic Specters, which in turn foreshadows their existence. Second Post-Script A disguised Candy Man crashlands at the gates of the Devil's Armpit, reappearing at Zira's Palace, where he attempts to placate the curious guards by claiming he was quite bitter to taste, a grim foreshadowing to the introduction of Gummi the Bare in Before The SMSB: When is Prehistory?. Characters The story mostly reprises the same characters from the original series, though several new characters are involved. The book’s tritagonist, Red X, is an ambitious yet naive superhero desperately trying to find her place and fit in at the same time. Nagatha, a vicious snake, is Hell Burnbottom’s pet. Jonathan is an orphan who at the point of the book owned the Sword of Abomination, which he used to decapitate Mr. Stupid NoHead’s spirit. Behind the Scenes Production “The X-Children - Part 1”, which was released on 13 February, 2015, is the first installment of a two-part book. The book is joined by a host of new characters, including Red X and Jonathan, but mostly uses characters already appearing in the previous ones, but looking different. The first part was released in February 2015, with the second following in May 2015. Production of both books occurred concurrently, and treated as if it were one book. The idea to split the books had been around since late 2014, but only really came into serious consideration after Thomas remembered his ambition to make it a sequel trilogy. Subsequently, Thomas confirmed that the book would be split in two, to do justice to its concept. At school, he looked up designs of real teenagers to do layout, but none of them resemble their image search very closely. Force Baby was given new hair, and Sebiscuits was given Force Baby’s hair instead. Before Red X was the name of the new member, several other names and supersuits were placed for consideration. Author’s Comments D. Isaac Thomas noted this was a “sit-down book, particularly in Part One. People have been so used to seeing action everywhere, so it just had to go down a notch. The NoHeads are gone, after all.” He has also noted that some of the events of this book had an effect on the way “The X-Adults: Endgame” was to be made in 2017. Novelization A novelization of The X-Children: Part 1 and Part 2 was written by D. Isaac Thomas adapting events from the story itself. The book was released on January 19, 2016, exactly six months after the book itself. The novel is intended for children and adults alike and will comprise a 50-minute e-reader. Thomas had access to a copy of the original draft as resources for the novel’s accuracy. Most events are the same, but it also expands the duel between Hell Burnbottom and Sebiscuits, and features two off-screen events that were omitted for their level of pertinence with the plot. Appearances Locations *Earth **Candy Man's Facility **Manhattan Island **New York City, New York ***Central Park East High School ***MBH **Canada ***Tower of Reincarnation Events *Return of Hell Burnbottom Objects *Sword Vehicles *Enforcer Species *Humans *Ghosts Organizations *S.M.S.B. *Elite NoHeads Mentioned *Mr. Stupid NoHead *NoHeads *Order of the Mystic Specters (indirectly) *Sheriff Bladepoint *Verasect New Characters *Candy Man *Nagatha *Titanium Girl *Red X *Fagin Ford *Tori Newell *Bridgett *Rose Johannson (appears as "Nurse Rose") *Ironside (appears as "Lincoln Strafford") References Category:Books Category:The Super Babies books Category:The X-Children Category:D.I.T. books Category:Part Three: The Growing Universe books Category:2015 books Category:PG-rated books